That is until the telephone rang.

Bette jumped away from me and I lunged for the phone.

“Hello?” I answered.

“Ma’am, I’m calling from…”  I hung up the phone quickly.  I hate telemarketers.

Bette was pacing around the room.

“Um…don’t hate me, but I called Kit.  She promised to tell the girls that you were okay and she’s sending you a care package.  I think she might try for next day delivery.”

Bette didn’t speak.

“Are you angry?”

“No, no I’m not.  Did she say she heard from Tina?”

I didn’t want to tell her about the lies Tina was spreading; I didn’t think her heart could take that.

“No, she didn’t say anything.  Just that everyone was worried.”  Bette nodded.  I could see the sadness in her eyes, “Everything will work itself out Bette.   I promise.”

~

A week passed, Bette’s care package arrived with all the things Bette would need.  She had clothes, shampoo, lotions, and perfumes.  Kit truly went all out and, more importantly, the little things that Kit packed inside made Bette happier.  She wasn’t, by any means, happy, but she smiled a little more often and her eyes, sometimes, would brighten as she looked at the pictures of her friends, family, and Angelica.  My mother was on board and began looking for even better lawyers than she had for herself.

I was entering the house after going out to see my mother.  Bette was positioned on the coach in Yale sweatpants and tight thermal shirt.

“Wow.”

“What?”

I smiled, “You look so butch.  I’ve never seen you like this.”  Bette stood up, smiling back at me and shaking her head, “No, it looks good on you.  I mean, you look nice.”

I tried to divert my attention by fooling with my jacket, before my eyes wandered and traveled down to her breasts.  I finally got it off before I noticed Bette coming closer to me.

“You’ve been really good to me this week. You’ve gotten my mind off of everything and helped me in a great way.  You’re a good friend.”  She wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into an enveloping hug.

It was the type of hug that you can feel from your head to your toes.  The hairs on my neck stood on edge.

“It’s really no big deal.  You’re my friend and you guys stuck by me.” I felt her eyes staring through me, reading into me, and I became insecure, “So, my mother has contacted her lawyers and she wants to meet with you.  I told her that we’d give her a call to arrange it…”

“Helena, are you ok?”

I yawned loudly, “I’m just tired.”

“Are you hungry?  I could make you something.”

“Sure, what do you have in mind?”

“I’m not that much of a chef, so you’re going to have to deal with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.” She smiled at me.

Metaphors, like “making me melt”, never applied until then, until the moment that she was so present in my life.

“Peanut butter and jelly sounds amazing.

~

The lawyers pumped Bette for information regarding her relationship with Tina.

“What about a job, Ms. Porter?”

“I’m taking a position with California University as Dean of the School of Art.  I start in a month.”

As happy as I was to hear that Bette had a new job, it more than worried me that she would have to be in Los Angeles in a month, leaving me here in New York.  It wasn’t like we were together, but maybe, I was holding out for the thought that maybe divine forces brought us both to New York.

Or maybe I was delusional.  She’d only been here for a week, we were both dealing with personal turmoil.  Maybe we just gravitated to each other because we were there.

It didn’t really matter.  She was here now and I wanted to cherish the time we had together, however brief.